When to know you are qualified to start a business

2.5 years ago, I spawned on Twitter (now X).

I had been an entrepreneur for 3 months with only one affiliate sale.

But I had a plan to add more cash to my wallet — and maybe more friends to my lonely existence.

I had been studying my competition for months. And after my research, I realised those generating more leads than me had two common themes:

1. Big ad budgets.

2. Big social media followings.

As a broke beginner, option 1 wasn’t really an option for me.

Option 2, however, seemed probable.

Building an audience online on a writing platform like Twitter required nothing from me other than an internet connection. But since I was already constantly online, it was technically free.

So, I set a goal to attract 5000 followers in 2022 and started publishing on x daily.

But if I thought I would be a millionaire in 30 days, I was in for the shock of a lifetime.

Building on X was difficult. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I nearly quit 1000+ times because of my tyrannical mind.

“You don’t know how to build an audience.”

“You are a consumer, not a creator.”

“You’re wasting your time.”

These weren’t just negative thoughts. They were true.

I hadn’t done this before, so the odds weren’t in my favour.

Still, I kept going. Not because I was resilient or mentally tough or driven or any of that superpower crap. I just didn’t have a choice.

I hated my existence so much that I either had to end my life or keep trudging ahead, hoping the grass would be greener on the other side. It wasn’t a purposeful pursuit. It was sink or swim. So, I kept going despite the negative thoughts flooding my mind.

And after 4 months of digital back-breaking work, I hit 1,000 followers.

As I write these words, I have 100,000 followers. But I’ve never felt more famous than when I hit 1,000 followers. It really meant the world to me. It showed me it was possible to achieve my goals.

But again, if I thought this was my happy ending, I was gravely mistaken.

In came the thoughts again.

“You’re too young. No one would take you seriously.”

“These people only follow you because you post what you read in books. You know nothing.”

I was frustrated.

Did I really work that hard to escape feeling this way just to end up feeling this way?

All my actions felt pointless, but like before, I couldn’t stop because I was in caveman mode; make money or starve.

So I continued and ended my first year as a digital writer with 50,000+ followers — 10x my goal for the year. But I didn’t have enough mental real estate for gratitude because of the negativity spiralling in my head.

I kept my nose down like the wild animal I was until I hit yet another mental roadblock at 80,000 followers.

“You’re black. White people won’t take you seriously.”

“You’re a horrible writer. No wonder your engagements are down.”

“Your audience will never take you seriously because even you know you don’t deserve 80k followers.”

This time, I hit my breaking point.

It finally dawned on me that I would never be enough, no matter what I did. I would never be qualified because there would always be something in my control I haven’t done or something out of my control I can’t do anything about.

This made me depressed for a while.

Until it didn’t.

One day, my frown became a smile as I realised I was qualified.

Being alive gave me all the qualifications I needed because God woke me up.

The masculine urge desires transformation. We want to become better than everyone and everything to feel worthy. So, we consistently focus on what’s next and pursue our goals, leaving other aspects of our lives to crumble and creating a toxic masculinity complex.

You will never feel worthy of what you do because, like me, there will always be something you have yet to do.

And that’s what makes life interesting.

If you can do everything, there’ll be no challenges left.

No challenges mean no game.

And no game means no life.

You can only feel worthy, whole, and complete internally.

God — the ultimate source — created you and put you on this earth to achieve a goal.

So, you have all the qualifications to do what you want.

• To start a business

• To build an audience

• To ask the cute girl out

You are qualified.

If I could talk to my past self, I would tell him not to resist the negative thoughts (by trying to prove them wrong) or suppress them (with Netflix, video games, or some other dopaminergic distraction).

I would tell him to accept them and do whatever he wanted.

“You don’t know how to build an audience.”

Yep, and that’s precisely why I want to build one — to challenge myself because I love myself.

“You’re wasting your time.”

Well, we’ll only know once we try. Besides, nothing is a waste. You either win or you learn — both necessary to become your desired self.

“You’re too young. No one would take you seriously.”

People care about what you can do for them, not how many birthdays you’ve had. 107,000+ people already follow me despite being too young, so that proves I’ve been valuable, haha.

“You’re black. White people won’t take you seriously.”

Unfortunately, some will never listen to me because of my skin colour. But that’s okay. You can only hate what you don’t understand. And while I don’t understand them, I can’t hate them because I know someone or something programmed them with this twisted belief. I hope they find God. Until then, I’ll continue doing what I want, as they do as well.

If you’ve solved a problem in your life, you’re qualified to start a business.

Meaning: You are already qualified.

I know that sharing your expertise (aka teaching) is scary, and you think you need to be an expert to do it, but you don’t.

You don’t teach because you understand. You teach because you want to understand.

You don’t need to be an expert to build a business. But you need to build a business to be an expert.

Everyone you admire started from zero.

They didn’t start because they were qualified. They began so they could become qualified. But then they realised later that by existing, they were already qualified.

So start. Make mistakes. Learn from them. And repeat.

In the end, we’re all going to die.

And if we, a part of God’s creation, can die, then the entire Universe will die someday.

Glory won’t matter, then. But stories will.

What will be your story?

Fight or flight?

Create or crumble?

Give it all or give it up?

I hope you make the choice that is true to your core, as I’ll be rooting for you, my friend.

— Francis

Attention, please.

If you’re interested in building an audience and income around your genuine curiosities and capacities — you know, the thing school didn’t help you do — I have news for you.

I’m launching a cohort in late July.

It’s called the Paid To Play cohort.

And as the name implies, it’s centred around teaching you how to get paid to play the fulfilling game called life. There are only 60 slots, so stay tuned to my letters and x posts to reserve yours when they become available.

But before the cohort launches, I’m looking for 5 - 10 creators to work with on a 1:1 basis.

So, if you’d like to build a 5,000-following and $5,000/month income stream in 60 days, reply to this email with “5K,” and we’ll discuss working together.

Talk soon!